


is it truly a tragedy if his smile remains?

by cloudwisp



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, Eren is Icarus, Gen, Hanji is Deadalus, Icarus AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 21:22:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13889394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudwisp/pseuds/cloudwisp
Summary: Eren swears he could almost brush lips with the sun... Reaching out with limbs decorated in wax and feathers of bronze, he could touch hands with the gods of the sky. Skin to skin, he doesn't care how it burns.





	is it truly a tragedy if his smile remains?

**Author's Note:**

> this is self indulgent lol
> 
> eren is icarus and that's all there is to it
> 
> love me some greek myth

Eren stands on the window ledge, white stone stark beneath the bronzed skin of his feet.

In the distance he can see Hanji soaring, the wings strapped to their body stretched wide. Eren pulls on the leather straps binding himself to his own wings, checking the security of his harness. It crisscrosses around his legs and climbs up to bind his chest and arms, like ivy as it winds its way towards the sun's light, always in search of something more, closer, closer.

Months.. years of his life had been spent locked away in this one room, nowhere to go, nothing to see but the ocean stretching miles and miles, seemingly never ending. There is so much beyond these walls and he is ready to see it, ready to experience it all for what feels like the first time.

Now is his chance, he can taste the freedom on the tip of his tongue, surely this is what the nectar of the gods tastes like? Sweet and warming, as if honey is dripping into his mouth, down his throat. It's delectable as it fills Eren's stomach with sticky hope.

Eren leaps.

The wind off the sea lifts him into the sky and he let's out a cry of relief, he is soaring, flying. Free, free! Finally free!

Hanji had been very strict with their instructions, never one for seriousness but for when it truly counted. Do not fly too high, lest the sun melts the wax binding the feathers together; although, Eren must not fly too low either, the ocean's spray would wet the feathers and drag him down from the sky.

Eren follows their path, mortal life is a fragile and fleeting thing.. Hard to protect. His heart flutters in his chest along with the feathers on his back.. He puts his faith in his adoptive parent, his devotion to them rivaling belief in any god.

But soon his uncertainty fades.. He feels himself growing intoxicated with the warmth kissing his skin, the smell of salt blowing off the ocean; all senses stronger in this moment than he has ever experienced.

He grins as the wind whips around him, he is truly elated, the emotions running through his veins and filling him with a sense of more, more, more!

Eren finds himself flying higher and higher, the heat of the sun is intense and the bright reflection off the ocean's crests brings tears to his eyes. It is beautiful, this world he has never truly seen before - never like this, as he soars higher than a bird.

Eren swears he could almost brush lips with the sun... Reaching out with limbs decorated in wax and feathers of bronze, he could touch hands with the gods of the sky. Skin to skin, he doesn't care how it burns.

He cannot be frightened as the wax runs across his skin, melting as the heat consumes his being, wrapped in the arms of a god.. It is a holy scorching..

Eren laughs, it is a wild sound, ripped straight from his chest as flames consume the delicate feathers. Yes, they always said that too much nectar will incinerate a human from the inside out, that honey thick taste is rising back up his throat and it burns, it burns!

The wind rips through his hair, like fingers are pulling at his brown locks.. Stay with me, don't go, someone begs from so far away. But Eren cannot stop this falling, no matter how much he flaps his arms - the wings are gone, so delicate as they were.

He is still laughing, an inferno. He knows soon he will meet another pair of arms, the ocean is just as unforgiving as the sun, but he is willing. He has seen so much in just a short time, he has felt what it is to be divine.. What mortal could say the same?

Eren thinks of Hanji, prays to whomever is listening, that his guardian will not mourn for him. He has touched the heavens and his eyes stream as he grins, eyes still locked onto that bright light above him. The sun seems to watch him in return, forlorn. Oh, what could have been!

The ocean accepts Eren's body, is it truly a tragedy if his smile remains? His bones have shattered, but the cold water soothes scorched skin and invades lungs still full to brimming with hope and joy.

Everything goes black, Eren is peaceful..

**Author's Note:**

> i was actually quite proud of this, i hope u enjoyed it
> 
> thanks for reading!!


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